For graduating seniors of Charlottesville and Albemarle County high schools who plan to attend college and who have an interest in issues connected to community sustainability, including but not limited to matters of population, economics, environmental science, biological diversity, agriculture, epidemiology, and housing. Awarded as a memorial to Francis Fife, the long-time ASAP board member and progressive leader in the Charlottesville-Albemarle County area, this $1,000 scholarship will be offered each spring to one Albemarle County or Charlottesville high school senior who is planning to attend college in the coming academic year.

The scholarship is intended to honor not only Mr. Fife’s thoughtful and energetic involvement in issues confronting our community during his life—the struggle for civil rights, for example, and the provision of affordable housing—but his concerns for the social, economic, and natural environmental endowment of future generations. It was this visionary approach that led him to work with a dozen other local residents to launch Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population in 2002, to serve on the organization’s Board of Directors for over a decade, and to remain a civic activist until his death in 2015.

TO APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP, STUDENTS MUST:

1.Submit an essay of no less than 700 words that explores the concept of our community’s sustainability and quality of life as it is affected by population growth or other anticipated and related change.

2.Sketch, in not more than a page, the applicant’s hopes for his/her future (including the school you hope to attend and current thoughts about particularly interesting field(s) of study or future vocations).

3.List your high school, civic, and/or community activities and achievements.

4.Ask a teacher, guidance counselor, or mentor in the community to write a letter of recommendation.

5.Have your guidance counselor furnish your current GPA.

For 2018, submit this package no later than May 1, 2018, to Dr. David Shreve, ASAP President, at cdavidshreve@gmail.com, or mail it to The Francis Fife Scholarship Committee, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, P.O. Box 582 Earlysville, VA 22936. For emailed applications, send the essay, future plans summary, and activities/achievements page in attached Word documents. Arrange to have letters of recommendation and GPA certifications sent directly from the writer (teacher, counselor, ...), in a scanned attachment or mailed to the ASAP P.O. Box.

We hope to announce the recipient at his or her senior class convocation/awards ceremony. The winning essay will be posted on the ASAP website.

On May 18, 2017, ASAP awarded the second Francis Fife Scholarship for Community Sustainability to Silas Beers of Albemarle High School. Silas will use his award to study Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech. To read Mr. Beers' winning essay, click here.

On June 1, 2016, ASAP awarded the first Francis Fife Scholarship for Community Sustainability to Sam Dreyfus of Charlottesville High School. Sam will use his award to study architecture at California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo. To read Mr. Dreyfus's winning essay, click here.